Australia defeated favorites Egypt 2-1 in Chennai, India, yesterday to book their place in the final of the 21st World Men's Team squash Championship.
Australia were lifted to victory by their world No. 4 David Palmer producing his best game to put an end to the 21-week without loss run of world No. 1 Amr Shabana of Egypt.
Palmer's determined and aggressive 3-1 win leveled the score at 1-1 after Australia's Cameroon Pilley (world ranked 23) had lost to 14th ranked Mohammed Abbas 1-3.
Faced with an exit, Egypt's 8th seeded Karim Darwish failed to shoulder the responsibility and pressure in succumbing to No. 15 Stewart Boswell, also at 1-3.
The Australians are making their 11th trip to the finals, having won the title eight times -- including four times in a row from 1967 to 1973.
The Aussies last won the title in 2003, defeating France in Vienna, Austria. In 1981 and 1993, Australia lost to Pakistan in the title clashes.
The Australians will await the winner of the match between defending champions England and France to be played later yesterday.
After his key win over Shabana, Palmer said he'd been "emotionally charged" up for the game, adding: "This is a great victory for me because I lost all four recent matches against him this season."
"If I were his coach, I would not have played Shabana in this tournament," Palmer said. "Egypt has other players capable of vying for top honors."
But the world's top player disagreed.
"I need to play for Egypt but I am unhappy that my country lost today. I was tired all right but I must credit that Palmer played better, particularly when [the] chips were down," Shabana said.
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